


home sweet bookstore

by JuneOokami, Silversouledcat



Series: Disaster Trio Modern AU [11]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Books, Cats, Disaster Trio Mordern AU, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Sypha Deserves a Raise, Work In Progress, so many books
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21993742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuneOokami/pseuds/JuneOokami, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silversouledcat/pseuds/Silversouledcat
Summary: Sypha's work at a bookstore is anything but boring.
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades, Sypha Belnades & Original Character(s)
Series: Disaster Trio Modern AU [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1525235
Comments: 1
Kudos: 68





	home sweet bookstore

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This fic will be centered on Sypha and her work, and since I'm saving Carmilla and the gang for other roles, there will be many, many OCs here. Chapters will be like sitcom episodes, connected but not sequential. Hope y'all enjoy it!

Sypha came into the store one rainy Friday morning to find Anthony standing near the register, concern etched on his face. He was focusing intently on something and didn't notice her until she put a hand on his shoulder, startling him a little.

"Hey, what's up? Everything ok?"

"Everything is not okay, it's more like the polar opposite of okay," he said, now visibly upset, and Sypha tried to make him sit behind the counter. When that didn't work, she steered him towards the kitchen, dropping her bag on the table, and put the kettle on to make him some tea.

"Tell me what's wrong, how can I help you?" she asked, trying to calm him down.

"I can't find her."

"What?"

"Princess Magnolia. I can't find her," he said, and in the years Sypha had known him, she had never seen Anthony this upset. It all made sense now. 

She grabbed his mug from the cupboard, the one that said _I Sold My Soul To Crowley and All I Got Was This Lousy Mug_ , and was just about to hand it to him when she noticed how much he was shaking, deciding instead to put it on the counter. Sypha took his hands and looked him in the eyes. "Where did you look? When did you notice she was missing?"

Anthony blinked, tearing up a bit. "She was there when I went to sleep, just… near the box of paperbacks? Over there?" he said, gesturing at the back area where they kept stock. "And then I came downstairs and she didn't greet me," he said, looking lost, "and… She's not in here, Sypha."

Sypha squeezed his hands. "You sit here and drink your tea, I'll have a look around. Don't worry, we'll find her," she reassured him, getting a hesitant nod from Anthony in response. That would be a job for two, though, so Sypha was pleased to find Hari walking into the shop when she left the kitchen. "Hi, keep the raincoat on. We're on a mission."

"Oh. That sounds bad," said Hari, dropping their backpack near the door.

"The Princess is missing."

"Shiiiiit."

"Shit indeed. Go look around the building, check the trash cans at the back, I don't know." Sypha sighed, putting a hand on Hari's shoulder. "We need to find her."

Hari straightened up a bit and saluted before going back out the front door. Sypha watched for a moment through the display windows as they looked under the cars parked on the street, then took a deep breath and started to poke around the shop. 

She decided to start looking under the register, where there were some boxes of books that would make any cat's day. Instead, Sypha found Evan's lost Spider-man keychain that had somehow ended up under one of the drawers on the old wooden counter, along with a startling amount of dust and cat fur. She cleaned her hands and the keychain in the employee bathroom, making a mental note to give the whole place a thorough cleaning soon, and grabbed the ladder to check on top of the shelves. 

Someone entered the store when she was looking over the esoteric and spiritual books section, which was much larger than most people expected.

"I doubt this store will have what I want, but I'm looking for Locke's Two Treatises in hardcover," a voice said behind her and Sypha sighed deeply.

"Third row on the right, at the very bottom shelf, dark blue cover. It's 40, leave it on the counter."

"What?"

Sypha turned and stared down at the short, well dressed man blinking at her like a deer in headlights. "I'm kinda busy looking for a cat, do you need me to take you there by the hand?"

The customer stared back at her in abject horror. "This is awful customer service! How dare you talk to me like that?"

Sypha shrugged. "You want the book or not?"

The man said, exasperated, "I'm going to leave a terrible review on this place! You're going out of business!"

"Good luck with that," Sypha said, smiling as she watched him huff and leave. 

After looking on top of every shelf, and there were a lot of shelves, Sypha decided to go check in the back and see how Anthony was doing.

She found him kneeling on the kitchen floor, face pressed to the linoleum, trying to look under the cupboards. "I don't think she would fit there, old man."

"Cats and snakes fit almost anywhere," Anthony said, poking around with a broom in the dark.

"Why don't you use your phone's flashlight?"

Anthony stopped and looked back at her with a frown. "My phone has that?"

Sypha rolled her eyes, grabbed her own phone from her bag and turned the flashlight on. "Yours probably doesn't, actually. Here, I'm gonna check the stock area. Hari's looking outside."

Storage was, as usual, a huge mess. She'd complain to Evan if he were there, since this was his responsibility, but it was his day off and now Sypha would have to look around piles of boxes and old furniture by herself. Fantastic.

Sypha was just a few minutes into her storage room expedition when Anthony poked his head in and said, "Your phone's ringing. Any sign of my baby?"

"Thanks, and not yet." He left her the phone and headed back into the store as she answered it, "Heya."

"Wanna grab lunch together?" asked Trevor, and she smiled upon hearing his voice.

"Sorry, babe. I'm, uh, kinda busy. Ouch," Sypha said, tripping over an unopened box labeled STAR WARS EXPANDED UNIVERSE near the back of the room. "So that's where that was all this time," she mumbled, tired.

"The mean books are hurting ya, curly?"

"Star Wars can't hurt me anymore than it already has, Trevor. If you could bring me a bagel and coffee, though?" she asked, leaning on the sweet so hard that Trevor laughed.

"I'll show up around 1 then. Love ya."

After she was viciously attacked by a stack of boxes full of old harlequin novels, Sypha left the storage area to regroup, thinking maybe Hari was having better luck. She found a customer browsing instead.

"May I help you?"

The green haired teenager turned to her and smiled shyly. "Uh, yeah? I'm Hari's friend, we're in the same bio class."

Sypha immediately warmed up to the kid and smiled. "Oh, cool! Are you looking for them?"

"Kinda? I came to say hi but I also like reading, so…"

That made things easier. Sypha pointed at the counter and the kitchen behind it. "We're dealing with a missing cat right now but you're welcome to read anything and there's water and cookies in the kitchen." 

"What, really? Can I just chill here?"

"Yeah, of course." After a moment of consideration, she added, "If a tall, weird British guy asks, say you're Hari's friend. He doesn't bite and will probably make you tea." That got her a very confused look in response but the kid shrugged, grabbed a nearby copy of _The Green Mill Murder_ and headed to the back, so that was handled.

It didn't seem like the rain would stop anytime soon as Sypha went outside. She found Hari looking behind the dumpster in the alley.

"Do you think she would climb this?" they said, pointing at the old pipes going up the walls.

"I'd say she's too lazy for it, but you can never tell with cats. Go make some hot chocolate, there's a friend of yours here."

Hari blinked in surprise. "What? Who?" 

"Green hair, says you're in bio together," Sypha shrugged.

"Ah, it's Mia," Hari said, clearly relieved. Sypha raised her eyebrows and was about to ask more about it when they ran off saying, "Hot chocolate it is!"

Amused and armed with something to tease Hari later, Sypha decided to ask around at the other stores and see if they had seen the cat.

Her first stop was the barbershop right next door, where she walked into an argument. The barber, a bald older man with an impressive beard, was pointing a soapy brush at a young woman.

"I won't stand for this! You take that shit back right the fuck now!" he said, spreading soapy foam as he brandished the small brush around.

"Nah."

"Nah? Nah my ass!"

"It's a big ass," she scoffed, leaning calmly against the wall.

"You wish you had my ass, young lady!"

"What is it this time?" asked Sypha, already looking under the chairs.

"Qing thinks Metallica is overrated!" he said, exasperated, and Sypha's laughter certainly didn't help.

"She's right, though. Did you guys see a cat?" she asked, making Qing perk up a bit.

"Are you looking for the Princess? She was here last night when I closed, haven't seen her today. Leonard?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Me neither, sorry," he said, argument forgotten, "Need help?"

"Not yet, only if we can't find her before closing time." 

Next stop, the old antiques shop. There were a few customers looking around and Sypha found the owner next to one of them, so she waited for them to be done haggling. It was a shame she had no popcorn.

"Table and five chairs, four-fifty. No delivery."

"What do you mean five? Only five?"

"Five chairs."

"Shouldn't there be one more? Why is it missing a chair?"

"Not missing chair, set is one table, five chairs."

"I'm not paying that for a table and only five chairs. It's gonna look weird!"

"Four-thirty. Deal?"

"Four hundred and not a dime more," the customer said, but the uncertainty in their voice was all the old lady needed.

"Four-fifteen, cash, you take it right now," she said, and her tone was so final, the customer caved immediately. It was like watching a shark that smelled a single drop of blood in the water miles away. The old lady directed the customer to the back, where her son would finish the transaction, and then turned to Sypha with the same cold expression on her face. "That table was from witch lady," she gestured vaguely, "talk to ghosts type, you know? Set it up like pentagram. Clients liked it."

"Not sure it would fly as well with other people," Sypha said, nodding towards the back, and both of them chuckled at that.

"You want some tea? Got blueberry jam."

"Maybe later Nadya, I'm looking for Anthony's cat."

Nadya frowned. "Haven't seen her, no. Anubis is near door, under big dresser."

Sypha thanked her and made sure to pet the old black cat on her way out, even though she had to crawl a bit for that. It was close to lunch time, so she headed back to the bookstore.

Hari and Mia were in the kitchen, exchanging glances while Anthony made hot chocolate. "You should always, always use milk. Hot chocolate made with water is a waste of precious, perfectly good chocolate," he said, very passionately, and both teens nodded quickly. "I take it you haven't found her yet. Want some?" he said to Sypha, already grabbing her blue unicorn mug, as if she would ever refuse hot chocolate on a cold and rainy day.

Trevor, who knew the way to her heart by now, arrived soon later with enough bagels for a small army and was rewarded with some of the hot chocolate.

"Where did you get these? They're so good," asked Mia, already feeling at home.

Trevor smiled proudly. "Little place two blocks away from here."

Sypha kissed his cheek and got up from where she was sitting on the kitchen floor. "You get out of kitchen duty because bagels," she said, pointing at Trevor, "but you're coming with me. We're gonna find this cat. You two," Hari and Mia stood at attention right away, "clean up and look in here some more. Maybe she's hiding somewhere and we just missed her in the mess." There was no need to tell Anthony what to do, as he was already heading upstairs to turn the loft inside out for the third time.

As they were heading back outside, Trevor leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I love it when you're all bossy."

Sypha chuckled and elbowed him light-heartedly. "Save it for later, Trev."

Instead of heading to the other stores on the street, Trevor led them towards the bakery on a hunch. No one had seen Princess there, but it was worth asking nearby. Just as they made their way around the block, a man noticed them looking around and gestured them over to an old brownstone.

"Are you looking for something?" he asked, sitting on the stairs.

"Yeah, this cat," said Sypha, showing him a picture of the Princess on her phone. It was from when she found Anthony asleep on the couch with the cat curled on his lap a few months before. The man visibly melted at the sight of the chubby white cat with orange tabby paws, tail and forehead. "Her name is Princess Magnolia," she added as the man cooed.

"I've seen her come around here a few times, she's probably over at Mrs Watkins," the man said, pointing at a house further down the street.

When they knocked on the house, several meows could be heard on the other side of the door, along with a few coming from the windows upstairs. The old lady who opened the door was accompanied by five cats and a poodle. "Hello there, can I help you?"  
Trevor was already kneeling on the steps and trying to befriend the cats as Sypha showed the woman her phone. "We're looking for this cat, she has a light blue collar and her name is Princess Magnolia."

"Oh, that lovely baby! Yes, yes, she's napping in the kitchen, I think she's friends with my kitties," Mrs Watkins said, inviting them in. "She doesn't usually stay so long but I think she was avoiding the rain."

Princess Magnolia looked up when they entered the kitchen and purred loudly before running to Sypha and curling around her legs. "There you are, you little Houdini. At least now I know where to find you," she said, grabbing the cat and holding her like a baby. 

Trevor looked up for where he was almost under the kitchen table petting a huge brown cat and smiled at her like a child in a candy store. "Wow, you're massive. And soft as fuck," he said, amazed, and the cat just glared at him.

"Always so polite, Trev. Come on, stop bothering the cats, let's take this lady home. Thank you, Mrs Watkins," she said, as the old lady watched everything with amusement.

Princess Magnolia returned home fast asleep on Sypha's arms, protected from the rain by Trevor's umbrella, and didn't seem to mind being snuggled by a very protective Anthony the rest of the afternoon.


End file.
